by Mark Scandrette
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The introduction to The Ninefold Path of Jesus sets the stage for traveling the nine paths the author draws from Jesus’ teachings known as the Beatitudes.
Author Mark Scandrette tells how the book came into being and points to author Dallas Willard’s description of Jesus’ encompassing teachings known as the Sermon on the Mount as the best example of a “curriculum for Christlikeness.”
While this book could be read quickly, its purpose is likely fulfilled better when accompanied by pauses, even prayers. Perhaps invite someone else or others to read along and discuss each of the nine “postures for life.”
“The beatitudes name nine distinct areas of human struggle that Jesus addresses in his teachings on the hill,” writes Scandrette in this 2021 book from InterVarsity Press. And they “name the illusions and false beliefs that have kept us chained and imprisoned.”
Although widely considered the essence of his teachings, Jesus’ beatitudes are often absent from what is called Christianity today.
These nine blessings, the author notes, point us to that which is real and true — and assure us we are not helpless. They “invite us to a new way of life, into a path of recovery.”
Scandrette takes readers down each of the nine paths with insight and conviction. There is never a soft sell — since that wasn’t Jesus’ approach either.
“If you set out to compile a list of values that contradict the highest aspirations of popular American culture, you couldn’t do much better than the beatitudes of Jesus, where Christ blesses the poor, the meek, the merciful, the peacemakers,” writes author/activist Shane Clairborne when endorsing this book.
When reading Scandrette’s thoughtful reflections — or Jesus’ words as found in Matthew 5 — one can discover or rediscover the contrasting ways of living between what Jesus taught and modeled, and how we often choose to live and relate to others today.
As Scandrette puts it, “Each day I have a choice.”
“I can live by first instincts: anxiety, denial, competition, apathy, contempt, deception, division, anger and fear,” he writes, “or I can choose to live from a higher state of consciousness: trust, lament, humility, justice, compassion, right motive, peacemaking, surrender and radical love.”
May we who seek to follow Jesus choose our paths wisely. This is a good resource for helping to guide us down the right paths.
Review by John D. Pierce, Director of the Jesus Worldview Initiative.